Trembling Uncertainty
by ducky72
Summary: Missing scene for episode 3x21 Bloodbath ... Written on request for chocolateluvr223 ... but you all are invited to read and review...


**Disclaimer:** I don't own any of the characters in this story. Never did, never will -- what a pity!

**Spoiler:** 3x21 Bloodbath

**A/N:** I was asked by chocolateluvr223 if I could write a missing scene for ep 3x21 (Bloodbath) about Abby getting the shirt from Gibbs when he takes her home with him to protect her from Mikel Mawher.

The actual challenge: "a kiss in that missing scene wouldn´t hurt either"

**Setting of story****/Time:** 33'38'' of episode Bloodbath

**Beta:** Pretty Dead Flower (Thank you so much!)

_**-xxx-**_

**Trembling Uncertainty**

Mikel Mawher had dared to frighten Abby again. He had got in to the Navy yard without being noticed, had somehow managed to get himself a drive-on and had appeared right in front of the window of Abby's lab.

Abby was very frightened and luckily the team had arrived just in time to let her know they would protect her.

"No place is safe!" Abby panicked. "If he can get me on the Navy yard, he can get me anywhere!"

Paralyzed by fear, Abby felt like crying.

"Not anywhere! Not anywhere." Gibbs was crouching right beside her. Squeezing her shoulder and gently caressing her cheek, Gibbs tried to reassure Abby, hoping she would not recognize how terribly worried he was himself.

_**-x-**_

Gibbs took Abby home with him. He would best be able to protect her there. And Abby would hopefully feel safer with him.

Gibbs was rummaging about in his closet to find a fresh duvet cover and a shirt for Abby to sleep in. She was still shivering with fear and bathed in a cold sweat. She had to change into something comfortable. When he had found what he had been looking for, Gibbs turned towards her.

Abby was sitting on his bed, the pillow on her lap and she was fumbling about with the buttons of the pillowcase. The shirt Gibbs had slept in last night was lying across the pillow.

She looked so incredibly sad -- as if she would start to cry at any moment.

Abby did not deserve to undergo such sorrow. She was a wholehearted woman. Men love that actually good characteristic but sooner or later many tend to take advantage of this.

Unfortunately, Abby tended to attract such guys.

Seeing Abby like this always made Gibbs sad as well. But it also made him kind of envious. Yes, he kind of envied her ability to let her emotions show like that. Maybe Abby not always told people what exactly was bothering her, but she showed her sadness or grief without holding back.

Gibbs realized that Abby had only recently stopped to tell him when ex-lovers bothered -- or even worse -- threatened her, like Mikel Mawher did right now. Gibbs admitted to himself that he had been pretty impulsive in the past on one or two occasions -- okay, maybe on more than one or two occasions -- and that obviously had made Abby stop telling him.

Fresh covers and a fresh shirt in hand Gibbs went over to sit down beside Abby.

He wasn't able to keep the evil away from her. Sometimes, maybe, but not for ever. Not, if he wasn't near her. Having her here, at his house, would keep her safe for a little while.

Gibbs brought one hand to Abby's cheek and caressed it lightly.

"Abs, you don't have to worry. I'll be down in the kitchen. Anyone who wants to get anywhere near you would have to get past _**me**_," Gibbs emphasized. Then, following a sudden urge to show her how much he really cared for her, he leaned forward and he felt his lips touch hers, soft and tender, and time froze for a little while.

He didn't demand to deepen the kiss. Most of all he wished he could have canceled his doing at once. Abby did not push him away, he thankfully realized. It would have been the most embarrassing thing in this situation that he could imagine, apart from the fact that he was actually kissing her.

Would he be able to ever forgive himself for letting show what he really felt for her?

Whether kissing her had been a good idea or not -- Gibbs wasn't sure, And Abby probably was too shocked from this day's events to react properly to what he had just done.

Just in case, Gibbs did not just take his lips away from hers, he replaced them by his forefinger which he lay across her lips before he leaned back to look at her.

Abby's eyes were widened and she was just staring at him. Hadn't he sealed her lips like this, she probably would have said something. This way, it was him who was able to speak first.

"Let's not talk about that now, ok?" he begged, as he caressed her face with his soft gaze.

Abby nodded slowly and he gently removed his finger from her face.

Gibbs looked at her, the uneasy feeling clearly visible on his face for a moment before he reached for the pillow in order to start changing the covers as Abby was still sitting there motionless.

"Gibbs?" Abby said, when Gibbs was about to pull the pillow over to him

He looked up at her again.

"You don't have to change it," she told him.

Gibbs didn't say anything. Each word he could think of would have sounded wrong now. So he tried to avoid her gaze again and just gave her the fresh shirt.

"Gibbs?" Abby once more waited for him to look at her. She still had that sad expression on her face and it had also taken hold of her voice.

"Do you mind if I put this one on?" Abby fumbled about with the green shirt he had worn last night -- the one with _'Marines'_ written across it.

"It would make me feel safer yet," she explained.

Gibbs lay his hand upon hers to still her nervous fumbling and he shook his head.

"I don't mind, Abs," he whispered.

Then he leaned forward and kissed her on her forehead.

"Try to sleep, Abs," Gibbs said softly before he slowly stood up, taking the fresh shirt with him.

"Thanks, Gibbs," he heard Abby say in a low voice before he left the bedroom and as he closed the door he turned to look at her and to tell her, "Good night, Abs."

_**-x-**_

One hour later Abby had to find that not only would anyone who had intended to enter the house have had to pass Gibbs, she, too, was not granted the favor to sneak into his basement without being noticed.

Abby had tried to sleep, wrapped into the blanket, her face deeply buried in the pillow, wearing Gibbs´ shirt. But it hadn't even been possible to close the eyes without being threatened by images of Mikel. She had sat up in the darkness and she soon needn't even close her eyes, she feared to see him outside at the window.

She had then grabbed the blanket, had thrown it over her shoulder and she had decided to retreat into a dark corner of Gibbs´ basement.

As quietly as possible Abby tapped down the stairs that lead from the upper floor to the entrance hall, her shoes in hand to not draw Gibbs´ attention. The lights in the entrance hall were turned on, that much she had become aware of when she had opened the door of the bedroom. But now, as she had descended the stairs, she found herself being looked at by Gibbs.

Gibbs had not taken up position in the kitchen like he had told her. Surrounded by loads of paperwork he was sitting on the floor, his back leaning against the front door and he was now scrutinizingly looking at Abby over the rim of his glasses. He just watched her without saying a word.

Glued to the spot, Abby stared back for several moments, then she decided to just do what she felt like doing and she stepped forward, towards the entrance to Gibbs basement and she stepped in, turned the lights on and set down on the upper step and put on her shoes.

She expected Gibbs to come and tell her to go back to bed or to at least call after her, but nothing like that happened. Obviously he did not mind her retreating to his basement and did not question her behavior.

Gibbs sighed. If only he could tell Abby that Mikel Mawher wasn't somewhere out there any longer. But he couldn't. And he would not leave his guard until Mikel Mawher was caught.

He heard Abby rummage about in his basement for quite a few minutes. When eventually all was quiet again, he waited for another ten minutes before he got up to have a look down into the basement. Abby was sitting in a far corner, legs drawn up and covered by the blanket she had brought with her. She did not look up at him, kept her eyes downcast. Maybe she had not even heard him.

Gibbs turned off the basement lights and went back to brood over his paperwork. He had not seen that Abby had the bottle of whiskey in her hand because it was hidden under the blanket.

It was not completely dark down in the basement. There was not really a door, just a door-frame and the basement was weakly lit by the lights from the entrance hall and the street-light that was falling through the windows.

After about an hour of silence Gibbs could hear noises from down in his basement again. Being slightly concerned on one hand, but definitely not willing to leave his guard on the other, he went on with his paperwork, carefully and with a certain amount of discomfort listening to the familiar, yet unskilled sound of sanding which reached his ear.

If it hadn´t been Abby who was maltreating his boat ... Gibbs would definitely have killed that person.

Twenty minutes later Gibbs´ cell phone went off and DiNozzo told him that they had caught Mikel Mawher.

Relieved to finally being able to tell Abby this good news and to convince himself with his own eyes that Abby wasn't up to some nonsense down there, Gibbs went down to his basement, where he found that Abby was messing about with his boat and drinking his bourbon... .

**_-xxx- _**

_For continuation please turn to episode__ 3x21 Bloodbath time setting 33'38''_

* * *

_A/N: Hope, the kiss really __didn't hurt... wanted to keep the scene angsty in first place._


End file.
